Working several years in a refinery and other industrial settings qualified me to watch endless hours of safety videos; many over & over again. There’s one video that I remember more than all the rest and it metaphorically relates to the need for social distancing during the coronavirus.
This video instructs on the dangers of working in a confined space like an empty tank or vessel. It usually starts with methods on purging dangerous gases, testing to make sure it’s safe to go in, and keeping someone outside the vessel to watch you in case something goes wrong. Of course, since it’s a safety video, something goes wrong.
The media can make anything scarier than it really is. Using words like ‘infected with the virus’ and ‘died from the virus’ is technically correct but is making people ashamed to admit they have it. This is dangerous.
I listened to a doctor who is on the front line of COVID-19 care say getting coronavirus is the same as catching a cold. I have to admit, that sounded a little too casual, but his point was coronavirus is the same bad guy that gives us colds, but this coronavirus we’re dealing with today is new and different in many ways. Still, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. You’re catching it in much the same way you catch a cold and all this talk about washing your hands and social distancing would greatly reduce common colds and flus if we took the same measures every cold season.
How are you going to wash your hands if you have no water? Chester Water Authority recognizes the situation some customers are in and are showing compassion in their humanitarian gesture of getting water to every customer in their system.
Chester Water Authority suspended turn-offs as of March 13, 2020. Since then they have contacted all the customers that they had listed in our system as turned-off. All of those customers who responded had their water service restored.
CWA is still fully operational. They continue to respond to request for new services, with same day service. They also continue to respond to issues of leaks that are outside of the property, with same day service. And of course any needed emergency repairs to their system are being handled promptly. Customers should know that for any water emergencies please call 1-800-793-2323 #9. For billing questions or any other non-emergency customer service inquiry please visit www.chesterwater.com and click on “Contact Us” at the top of the web page.
It seemed like just a few weeks ago and there were rumors, posts, and Tweets alleging how Black folks may be immune to the coronavirus. What was actually occurring was the lack of news media presenting the Black victims to viewers.
When Idris Elba announced he had COVID-19, the tables turned. Some of the most notable Blacks to announce publicly their positive test result are 11-NBA players. The myth is now destroyed; Black people can, will, and have contracted COVID-19.
As the virus works its way across the country, we can expect low income communities, particularly Black ones, to be hit hard. We have the highest rate of chronic illnesses thanks in part to existing where polluters roam freely. Many children have consumed high levels of lead but have never been diagnosed as such. You are hard pressed to not find a young person who doesn’t have asthma. Infant mortality is high and life expectancy is low. Coronavirus seems to thrive in environments like this. The City Health Commissioner of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jeanette Kowalik announced on Monday…
…many of the new COVID-19 cases they were seeing for the coronavirus were in middle-aged African American men. The first three Milwaukee patients reported to have died after contracting coronavirus were all African American men between the ages of 50 and 70. All of the patients had underlying conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, diabetes, high blood pressure, or heart problems.
Milwaukee also suffers from high infant mortality, and childhood lead poisoning which makes their population of Blacks so vulnerable.
Chester had a couple COVID-19 cases last week but they turned out the be bogus for some unexplained reason (or at least none I came across). Now, we have two new cases I don’t think are related to the last two cases. I’d love to research that more, but this is all the available information out there I know of.
The Delaware County COVID-19 map is on fire. On Tuesday when the county was at 84 cases, I asked if we’d get to 168 cases by Friday. Today is Thursday and we’re at 159. What do you think?
That seems like such a stupid question but based on government’s delay in implement the Defense Production Act to secure medical equipment sorely needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic, you’d think we had a large bench full of doctors, nurses, and first responders at the ready and available to care for the thousands of American’s contracting COVID-19, even as they’re becoming patients themselves.
The act issues contracts to manufacturers to make large numbers of test kits, personal protective masks, ventilators, respirators, face shields, Tyvek gowns, and gloves to support health care workers and their patients.
Federal delays in rolling out widespread testing have sparked criticism from state officials who have said they are woefully underprepared to handle the pandemic.
“Even the most conservative political theories recognize that governments do sometimes have to take directive actions and markets alone cannot solve these problems. It should be a war mentality, and the government should be the leader,” said Mildred Solomon, president of the bioethics-focused Hastings Center.
Some American manufacturers have privately expressed concerns that it’s more difficult to ramp up production of medical equipment without clear guidance from the federal government outlining what materials are needed — and where.
However, Ford Motor Company put things in motion before the White House approved senate bill 3568 – A bill to require the President to use authorities under the Defense Production Act of 1950 to require emergency production of medical equipment to address the COVID-19 outbreak. Ford is already busy making medical supplies through four projects: working with GE to make ventilators; working with 3M to make air purifying respirators; and working in-house to 3-D print face shields and N95 masks.
Sort of makes me proud I drive a Ford.
One of the biggest buzz phrases in coronavirus lingo is ‘flattening the curve.’ Here’s my way of explaining what the curve is and the efforts to flatten it.
Let’s start with the easy part; how to flatten the curve.
The emergency declarations, stay at home edicts, wash you hands advice, avoid large crowd mantras, close the schools decisions, and work from home mandates all help to slow down humans passing the virus to other humans. If fewer people are in contact with one another there’s less of a chance of contracting the virus.
Here’s how to interpret the Delaware County curve and why it’s so alarming.
From March 8 to March 16th there were 4 COVID-19 cases in Delco.
One day later, March 17th , that number doubled to 8 cases.
Three days later, March 19th, that number doubled again to 16 cases.
One day later, March 20th, that number more than doubled again to 34 cases.
Two days later, March 22nd, that number almost doubled again to 62 cases.
One day later, March 23, we’re at 84 cases.
When you plot these dates on the graph, the line is going straight up fast. Until you see the numbers stop climbing (flatten out), the pandemic is raging on.
Will we see 168 cases by Friday and 334 cases by Monday? If we do, will you be concerned? Are you concerned now?
Those are questions only you can answer.
Black Covid-19 